Immortal Foundation
Jiang Wangxuan opened his eyes again more than a month later. The morning sun had just begun to climb from the sea of clouds, and the Clear Frost Osmanthus Garden lay in silence.
The Plain Shadow Cold Moon Osmanthus seemed to sense a change in the Qi of the cultivator beneath it and sent a few more osmanthus blossoms drifting down onto him.
Jiang Wangxuan reached out to accept the osmanthus tree's gift, only to find faint threads of gold flickering along the edges of the blossoms. He rose to look at the Plain Shadow Cold Moon Osmanthus. Radiance flowed over the tree, and a faint moonlight shimmered along its branches and trunk.
A closer look revealed flashes of gilded light!
Jiang Wangxuan paused, then smiled. "I see. The Immortal Foundation 'Autumn Moon Osmanthus' takes its name from the full moon phase. Although forming the Immortal Foundation only produces an 'osmanthus embraced by a frosty moon,' its true meaning points straight to the bright moon that nurtures the osmanthus."
The Plain Shadow Cold Moon Osmanthus before him must have benefited from his Foundation Establishment here, absorbing the phenomenon it produced. In doing so, it had gained a trace of the full moon's perfection, and its moonlight now concealed gold.
But concealed gold was only the beginning of the pursuit of perfection. If it ever cultivated gilded moonlight, the Plain Shadow Cold Moon Osmanthus could advance to become a Purple Mansion Spirit Plant.
The essence of Autumn Moon Osmanthus was to cultivate moonlight imbued with that sense of perfection. Moonlight was the spiritual radiance of heaven and earth, the pure essence of Grand Yin!
If a cultivator wished to raise the Immortal Foundation Autumn Moon Osmanthus into the Rising Yang Mansion and obtain a Divine Ability, he ought to cultivate Imperial Flowing Elixir, which catalyzed all things and living beings.
That was why Grand Yin cultivators had often been treated as nourishing spirit pills during the dark age of recent antiquity.
A Grand Yin Qi Refinement cultivator who had reached a profound level already had Lunar Essence protecting his body. If a Foundation Establishment cultivator formed the Immortal Foundation Autumn Moon Osmanthus, his entire body would be nourished by moonlight.
Eating a Grand Yin cultivator was far better than any miraculous pill or medicine!
The Immortal Foundation Autumn Moon Osmanthus was cultivated through the sixth-grade Autumn Moon Frost Osmanthus Qi Condensation Method. If he wanted to raise the Immortal Moon Township in his Qi Sea into the Rising Yang Mansion, he would have to cultivate the cycle of Grand Yin's five lunar phases to achieve perfection!
Autumn Moon Osmanthus required the cultivation of Grand Yin's full moon and a strand of gilded moonlight. His Immortal Moon Township had already obtained a waxing crescent moon, only a sliver short of the full moon's perfection, so there were still three lunar phases left to cultivate!
What grade of Cultivation Method, then, would it take to form this Immortal Moon Township? Above sixth grade lay the realm of Immortal Methods, which only Golden Core True Lords could obtain!
No, he could not judge a Cultivation Method's grade so simply!
Having survived a life-and-death tribulation and chanced upon a moment of "Dao enlightenment," Jiang Wangxuan had an understanding of Immortal Moon Township unlike that of ordinary people!
The Purple Mansion Golden Core Dao was the mainstream school of cultivation today, while in High Antiquity it had been the Qi Ingestion and Nature Cultivation Method. For cultivators of that Dao, Qi Refinement was the greatest obstacle to setting foot on the immortal path.
This Qi was not simply gathered from Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. As Jiang Wangxuan now understood it, one had to seek a strand of "truth."
To enter the [Grand Yin] lineage, one had to gather and ingest a strand of Grand Yin's true essence. The five lunar phases were undoubtedly among the things closest to that essence.
Only after reasoning this far did Jiang Wangxuan finally understand why some ancient books crudely equated the gathering of Qi in Qi Ingestion and Nature Cultivation with the Foundation Establishment Realm of the Purple Mansion Golden Core Dao.
Such a classification was naturally far too broad. An Immortal Foundation cultivated through the Purple Mansion Golden Core Dao could indeed grant one or two wondrous powers, but it still fell far short of the wisp of true essence obtained through Qi Ingestion and Nature Cultivation.
What was more, not all Immortal Foundations were alike. Autumn Moon Osmanthus was a genuine upper-tier Cultivation Method, and any Divine Ability gained from it would likewise be upper-tier. Naturally, where there were upper-tier Divine Abilities, there were lower-tier substitutes!
As far as Jiang Wangxuan knew, one of the lower-tier Immortal Foundations beneath Autumn Moon Osmanthus was Cold Moon Farewell.
Thus, his Immortal Moon Township must have gained an aspect of Grand Yin's true essence, but instead of "gathering Qi" through the Qi Ingestion and Nature Cultivation Method, he had ultimately cultivated it into an Immortal Foundation through the Purple Mansion Golden Core Dao.
At that thought, Jiang Wangxuan felt that his Dao Wisdom had grown considerably once more!
This also solved the problem of how he should explain this unfamiliar Immortal Foundation to his elders. The full moon phase cultivated by Immortal Moon Township could be developed into the Immortal Foundation Autumn Moon Osmanthus.
Immortal Moon Township would remain his life-saving trump card for a long time to come.
Jiang Wangxuan glanced again at the glazed vessel that had once held the White Hair Moon-Illuminating Pill. The Five Radiances Colored Lotus Water inside had dissipated with time.
The Crimson Moon that had nearly carried him away when he broke through to Foundation Establishment had likewise vanished into thin air. But the poisonous hand that had reached toward him from the shadows was still there!
A White Hair Moon-Illuminating Pill containing a Grand Yin lunar phase was already worth more than a Purple Mansion spiritual object. The crimson waxing crescent moon hidden within it possessed the bizarre wonder of "animation"!
Such an extravagant undertaking could only be directed by someone with a Purple Mansion Divine Ability!
So he had to take things in stride. Jiang Wangxuan clenched his fist. Once he emerged from seclusion, the hidden hand behind it would most likely lie low and wait to see what happened!
Jiang Wangxuan rose and let out a long sigh. The enemy was in the dark, while he was in the open. He would have to plan this matter carefully.
At a time like this, it was all the more important to betray nothing. As long as he lived, they would surely make another move. He had to take things in stride, endure, and first get a clear view of the situation.
Still, between life and death lay great fortuitous opportunities. The waxing crescent moon had the power to awaken all things, and he too had gained a trace of its wondrous power!
It was called Spirit Awakening!
The Plain Shadow Cold Moon Osmanthus seemed to sense something and unwittingly summoned a breeze. Its shadow rustled, and waves of osmanthus fragrance filled the air!
"Osmanthus, I suppose you and I have shared life and death. If I'd made one wrong move, I'm afraid you would have followed me to my end. Though you benefited from my Foundation Establishment phenomenon, you're still far from becoming a Plain-Shadow Golden Moon Osmanthus!"
Jiang Wangxuan stood with his left hand behind his back and formed a Method Formula with his right. It was none other than the third-grade Moon-Worshipping Spirit-Calming Benediction, but unlike before, a waxing crescent moon now appeared behind him.
Its bright moonlight nourished all things, awakening spirits and enlightening minds!
Like a loving mother, the waxing crescent moon cast down a wash of silver radiance. The silver light adorned the Plain Shadow Cold Moon Osmanthus like flecks of starlight.
Starlight shimmered over the entire osmanthus tree, and moonlight flowed across it. The hidden gilded light had mingled with the moonlight like milk and water, inseparable from it!
More wondrous still, under the waxing crescent moon's benediction, the Plain Shadow Cold Moon Osmanthus's spirituality had been forged into a single "starburst."
The forging of its spirituality brought earth-shaking changes to the Plain Shadow Cold Moon Osmanthus.
Most obviously, before, anyone who set foot in the Clear Frost Osmanthus Garden could feel the entire estate's Spirit Veins converging on the osmanthus atop the raised platform.
Now, however, the Plain Shadow Cold Moon Osmanthus seemed like an ordinary osmanthus tree. It was no longer the "ruler" of the estate; instead, it was joined to the vast world around it, with an air of ease and contentment!
Jiang Wangxuan could feel the osmanthus tree's joy. Its twigs and buds had unwittingly brushed against his face, covering him in the fragrance of osmanthus.
He reached out and stroked a flower bud on a twig. "You protected me through Foundation Establishment, and I repay you with a wash of starlight. Every sip and every bite is decreed by heaven!"
"Oh? What about me? My dear master, what do I get? I helped you chase away that nasty Crimson Moon, you know. Shouldn't you give me a great big reward?"
Looking thoroughly smug, Big Fat Fish popped out of the Rising Yang Mansion at the most inopportune moment. She planted her hands on her little hips and proudly claimed credit!
Jiang Wangxuan rubbed his forehead helplessly. If Big Fat Fish had not come to his rescue in time, he really would have crashed and burned, beyond all saving. "Two meals of moonlight a day, all you can eat!"
"Not enough!" Big Fat Fish conjured a large white bowl and gestured with her chubby little hands. "I want a bowl this big filled with moonlight, three meals a day!"
Jiang Wangxuan looked at the white bowl, which was big enough for Big Fat Fish to swim in, and tossed it aside with a smack. "How's the Black Tide?"
"Hmph, cheapskate. You'll spend almost half your moonlight awakening an osmanthus tree's spirit, but you won't feed me. And now you want to squeeze my 'computing power' without a shred of conscience."
Big Fat Fish promptly flopped onto the "ground" and threw a tantrum.
Jiang Wangxuan sighed helplessly. His Supreme Dao Wisdom really was far too spirited. "All right, all right. I'll give you an extra-large meal today, to celebrate our making it through that tribulation. How about it?"
"Yay! Master, you're the best!" Big Fat Fish changed her tune on the spot, hugging Jiang Wangxuan's Spiritual Sense in the Rising Yang Mansion and rubbing against it with all her might!
Once she was done, she took out her personal tableware and began wolfing down moonlight. It was far tastier than the Lunar Essence from his Qi Refinement days.
"Master, I have some bad news. The Black Tide that True Person Shouhui was supposed to have smashed to pieces has risen from the ashes!"
Jiang Wangxuan nodded. He had already sensed as much. The Black Tide had attached itself to Big Fat Fish's shadow, and its Qi was growing stronger.
It must have swallowed a fair amount of the spiritual essence brought by the Crimson Moon during their clash!
"The good news is that I, Big Fat Fish, can now successfully suppress the Black Tide's power. I'm its big boss now! But if I can't improve as fast as this fellow, things might not stay that way!"
"After all, the Black Tide comes from the bloodline in your body, so it'll recover as you grow! When all is said and done, even if that True Person Shouhui came back to life, he couldn't root out this bloodline power. That's also why I released the Black Tide in the end!"
Jiang Wangxuan trusted Big Fat Fish's on-the-spot judgment completely. She might look like a gluttonous rascal, but her judgment meant absolute calculation!
Since the Black Tide's power could not be rooted out, he might as well leave it entirely to Big Fat Fish to suppress. And given the Black Tide's bizarre properties, perhaps he could one day use it to secretly kill certain people who meant him harm.
The Black Tide had been the main force in suppressing the Crimson Moon.
"Oh, and after the Black Tide recovered this time, it spat out a Cultivation Method. It's the True Explanation of Sloughing Wood, Crossing Tribulations, and Transforming Spirits, which one of your Jiang ancestors once obtained."
After eating her fill, Big Fat Fish patted her little belly and tossed out a Cultivation Method. "From the [Renewed Wood] lineage, a sixth-grade Cultivation Method. It can transform any Wood Virtue Immortal Foundation into the Renewed Wood Divine Ability Withered Wood Flourishes."
Without even catching it, Jiang Wangxuan sealed the Cultivation Method in Big Fat Fish's database. The Renewed Wood demonic path was not to be touched, so as long as he did not look, he knew nothing!
He had only just reached Foundation Establishment. Both the secrets behind the Jiang bloodline and the hidden hand behind the White Hair Moon-Illuminating Pill would have to wait until he had grown stronger before he could gradually investigate them!
Hmph, I am not yet strong. Once I am, things will change!